Jack’s Mid Missouri Memory: 4th of July

As a child I thought I knew what the 4th of July meant. Back then it meant Reed’s grocery store at 4th Street and Emmit Avenue would be replacing the candy in that big glass case in front of the store with fireworks, which also meant every nickel my friends and I could scrape together would be spent on those exploding wonders.

I knew the other more important thing about that date was the Independence of our country, and the celebration of our freedom, because the newspapers and radio stations reminded us of that, as did our parents and teachers. For the most part however us kids only related the date to cherry bombs, and roman candles as the main reason for the holiday. I guess it takes growing up before we become patriotic citizens, who think about the trials our country went through so we could enjoy the blessings of freedom with picnics and fireworks.

I still remember staring into that display case at Reed’s grocery store-coveting everything from the small lady fingers to the Hugh rockets that just barely had enough room to fit on the shelves. Although Mr. Reed was not the kind of store owner to sell a little kid the large fireworks with out a parent’s permission, somehow the more resourceful kids among us always managed to get some of the more dangerous ones somewhere. I remember some of them being big enough to rip a tin can to shreds. I usually wound up with those lady fingers that just went “Poof though.

I also remember trips to the creek on the 4th of July. Watermelons would bob in the water to cool, while hotdogs on a stick cooked over a driftwood fire. We would swim and eat until it was dark enough that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, and then the fireworks display would begin. I still remember how beautiful those exploding rockets looked back then, with their fiery plumes blossoming high over our heads, and reflecting again in the dark water of the creek.

It never occurred to me until I was older that the reflection of exploding rockets of a different kind on the water nearly two hundred years ago, as soldiers fought for our freedom would have given the watcher a totally different feeling than the innocent fire works give us today.

Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner,” which was written in 1814 at Fort McHenry in Baltimore was not really on my mind as my father lit sparklers for me and my sister on that creek bank back in the 40’s- but today – as rockets explode over my head, and with my family all around me to enjoy another 4th of July that marks our country’s freedom- It is. God Bless America!